Bill Text: NY S04843 | 2009-2010 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Provides that absentee ballots for all elections shall be made available in braille, upon request of a blind or visually impaired voter; applies to all elections, including school elections; directs the state board of elections, and the commissioner of education, to promulgate rules for the preparation, distribution, casting, and canvass of braille ballots.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-07-01 - PRINT NUMBER 4843A [S04843 Detail]
Download: New_York-2009-S04843-Amended.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 4843--A 2009-2010 Regular Sessions I N S E N A T E April 27, 2009 ___________ Introduced by Sen. AUBERTINE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections -- recommitted to the Committee on Elections in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Commit- tee on Finance -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the election law and the education law, in relation to making absentee ballots available in Braille and large-print THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new section 7-107 2 to read as follows: 3 S 7-107. ABSENTEE BALLOTS IN BRAILLE AND LARGE-PRINT TO BE MADE AVAIL- 4 ABLE. 1. ABSENTEE BALLOTS PRINTED IN BRAILLE AND LARGE-PRINT SHALL BE 5 MADE AVAILABLE UPON THE REQUEST OF ANY REGISTERED VOTER WHO IS BLIND OR 6 VISUALLY IMPAIRED. PERSONS WISHING TO RECEIVE BRAILLE OR LARGE-PRINT 7 BALLOTS MUST GIVE NOTICE THEREOF TO THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS NO LESS THAN 8 THIRTY DAYS PRIOR TO EACH ELECTION DAY TO ENABLE THE BOARD TO PREPARE 9 AND DISTRIBUTE SUCH BALLOTS. 10 2. THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL PROMULGATE RULES FOR THE PREPA- 11 RATION, DISTRIBUTION, CASTING, AND CANVASS OF BRAILLE AND LARGE-PRINT 12 ABSENTEE BALLOTS. THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL DEVELOP THE 13 INITIAL FORMAT FOR BOTH BRAILLE AND LARGE-PRINT BALLOTS IN CONSULTATION 14 WITH AT LEAST THREE NEW YORK STATE ORGANIZATIONS WITH EXPERTISE IN THE 15 FIELD OF ADVOCACY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND SUCH OTHER APPROPRI- 16 ATE PERSONS, GROUPS, ENTITIES OR ORGANIZATIONS AS THE STATE BOARD OF 17 ELECTIONS SHALL DETERMINE. FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS SECTION, "BRAILLE" 18 REFERS TO GRADE TWO BRAILLE AND "LARGE-PRINT" REFERS TO A FONT OF EIGH- 19 TEEN POINT OR LARGER. UPON THE PRINTING OF A BRAILLE BALLOT, THE BOARD 20 OF ELECTIONS SHALL REQUIRE SUCH BRAILLE BALLOT TO BE PROOFREAD BY A 21 QUALIFIED BRAILLE READER. THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL ESTABLISH EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02447-05-0 S. 4843--A 2 1 THE MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS FOR A BRAILLE BALLOT PROOFREADER IN CONSULTA- 2 TION WITH AT LEAST THREE NEW YORK STATE ORGANIZATIONS WITH EXPERTISE IN 3 THE FIELD OF ADVOCACY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND SUCH OTHER APPRO- 4 PRIATE PERSONS, GROUPS, ENTITIES OR ORGANIZATIONS AS SUCH BOARD SHALL 5 DETERMINE. 6 S 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 2022-a to 7 read as follows: 8 S 2022-A. BALLOTS IN BRAILLE AND LARGE-PRINT TO BE MADE AVAILABLE. 1. 9 BALLOTS PRINTED IN BRAILLE AND LARGE-PRINT FOR EVERY ELECTION SHALL BE 10 MADE AVAILABLE UPON THE REQUEST OF ANY REGISTERED VOTER WHO IS BLIND OR 11 VISUALLY IMPAIRED. SUCH BALLOTS SHALL BE MADE AVAILABLE AT POLLING PLAC- 12 ES UPON REQUEST, AND MAY BE USED BY A VOTER IN LIEU OF THE VOTING 13 MACHINE. ABSENTEE BALLOTS PRINTED IN BRAILLE AND LARGE-PRINT SHALL BE 14 MADE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. PERSONS WISHING TO RECEIVE BRAILLE AND 15 LARGE-PRINT BALLOTS MUST GIVE NOTICE THEREOF NO LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS 16 PRIOR TO EACH ELECTION DAY TO ENABLE PREPARATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF 17 SUCH BALLOTS. 18 2. THE COMMISSIONER, IN CONSULTATION WITH THE STATE BOARD OF 19 ELECTIONS, SHALL PROMULGATE RULES FOR THE PREPARATION, DISTRIBUTION, 20 CASTING, AND CANVASS OF BRAILLE AND LARGE-PRINT ABSENTEE BALLOTS. THE 21 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SHALL DEVELOP THE INITIAL FORMAT FOR BOTH 22 BRAILLE AND LARGE-PRINT BALLOTS IN CONSULTATION WITH AT LEAST THREE NEW 23 YORK STATE ORGANIZATIONS WITH EXPERTISE IN THE FIELD OF ADVOCACY FOR 24 PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND SUCH OTHER APPROPRIATE PERSONS, GROUPS, 25 ENTITIES OR ORGANIZATIONS AS SUCH BOARD SHALL DETERMINE. FOR THE 26 PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, "BRAILLE" REFERS TO GRADE TWO BRAILLE AND 27 "LARGE-PRINT" REFERS TO A FONT OF EIGHTEEN POINT OR LARGER. UPON THE 28 PRINTING OF A BRAILLE BALLOT, SUCH BRAILLE BALLOT SHALL BE PROOFREAD BY 29 A QUALIFIED BRAILLE READER. THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SHALL ESTABLISH 30 THE MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS FOR A BRAILLE BALLOT PROOFREADER IN CONSULTA- 31 TION WITH AT LEAST THREE NEW YORK STATE ORGANIZATIONS WITH EXPERTISE IN 32 THE FIELD OF ADVOCACY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND SUCH OTHER APPRO- 33 PRIATE PERSONS, GROUPS, ENTITIES OR ORGANIZATIONS AS SUCH DEPARTMENT 34 SHALL DETERMINE. 35 S 3. This act shall take effect on the first of December next succeed- 36 ing the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediate- 37 ly, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation 38 necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are 39 authorized and directed to be made and completed on or before such 40 effective date.